Tag Archives: DASH Diet

Do you ever find yourself bored at lunch and looking to fill that hour with something else other than just stuffing food in your face? Well why not update a blog I completely forgot about.

So let see…hmmm…..last entry 2011…biking from Milwaukee to Chicago. Wow! I probably cannot repeat that bike trip if I wanted to. I’m now 31, fatter, bad knees, and just plain lazy. A lot has happened since 2011, and I won’t go into exact details (at least in this single entry.)

What inspired me to add a new post out of the blue after 6 years? While trying to think of what to eat for lunch I realized that my eating habits have been revolved around Grub Hub, Seamless at work, and buying pub burgers from the grocery store to grill at home. So two things come to mind. One, I need to lose weight! Two, I need to just eat healthier.

Standing at a short 5″7 and weighing at 205, I am finding my clothes don’t fit like they used to. I’m over weight and my bmi is too high. I know, I know, everyone is trying to lose weight. Its true! I’m part of the millennial generation of eating healthy and working out. But fact of the matter is, I need to at least make an attempt.

Which leads into my next point. I need to eat healthier. I saw in my email from my health care provider about best diets. One of them listed was called the DASH Diet. Created by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), U.S. News and World Reports gives the following overview:

The aim: Preventing and lowering high blood pressure (hypertension).

The claim: A healthy eating pattern is key to deflating high blood pressure – and it may not hurt your waistline, either.

The theory: Nutrients like potassium, calcium, protein and fiber are crucial to fending off or fighting high blood pressure. You don’t have to track each one, though. Just emphasize the foods you’ve always been told to eat (fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy), while shunning those we’ve grown to love (calorie- and fat-laden sweets and red meat). Top it all off by cutting back on salt, and voila!

I decided on the DASH Diet because of the overall ranking and theory of the diet. Fighting off high blood pressure! The diet seems pretty simple and easy to follow. Eat your fruits and veggies, lean meat and not much of it, and cut out the sodium. So I walked downstairs to the cafe and got a turkey and swiss sandwhich with a side of carrots and celery. Its a diet to be eased into so I may still have a burger every so often, I’ll just have to keep in mind of a smaller patty.

I’ll leave my picture above as is…my stuffing my face with a brownie at a fraternity camping trip around 2007.